POINTS FROM PARLIAMENT

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 136, 5 December 1918, Page 6

POINTS FROM PARLIAMENT

COMMISSIONER CONTROL ENDING? A feature of the Post and. Telegraph Department Bill is that it practically cuts out control of appointments in that Department by tie Public Service Commissioner. The appointment of the principal bfficens (four) is entirely out of the Commissioner's power, and his function in regard to other officers is merely one of approval of recommendations of/ the Promotion Board, except in certain cases of disagreement, which may be settled by the Minister. Mr. E. Newman (Rangitikei) said ho regretted this whittling away of th© Commissioner system. Several other members spoke in praise of the new proposal, and. expressed a hope that the .principle would be extended to obher departments. . ; ■

Messrs. Harris and Ell urged that \ members should not be debarred from trying to help worthy persons in distressing circumstances from obtaining positions in the Public Service. Mr. Harris told how a widow who had wished to be a post-mistress (or something similar) had become lost in a maze of correspondence till he had come to the rescue. He had explained the matter to the Commissioner, who had been very considerate—and the woman had obtained the position. 1 . llPolitical influence," interjected a member playfully. 0 i Mr. Harris's reply indicated that he regarded this 'kind of intervention as humanitarian, not political. , As the Railways Department has been always out of bounds for the Public Service Commissioner, the new Bill gives a sharp reminder that a very large proportion of the State's employees will be outside the Commissioner system.